Post 30: The Only Way Out is Through 🛤️
Everything is simultaneously macro / micro and remembering this feels important.
Hello Friends!
I hope you’re hanging in there. I just wanted to send a quick note with a quote I found really helpful today, with the intent that it might be of assistance to those of you who need it. I am still processing the passing of the horrific bill through our Congress (no amount of phone calls was going to sway my Representative, I can tell you that). It’s going to be a long, difficult road ahead. Now it feels more important than ever to find ways to lovingly sustain ourselves and reach out to others as we are able, so we don’t lose touch with our spark or our sense of compassion. I very much wish that for you.
I hope we each keep taking those small actions daily that make our corner of the world a better place. The big actions are important, but if you really think about it, it’s the small ones, repeated often, that can help shape a trajectory over time. We are each part of this trajectory, in our own small ways. In our personal lives and in our society.
So much more I would love to write about (and I will, eventually) BUT in nine minutes we are leaving for a BBQ at my parents’ house… So I’d better get to it! Here’s the quote:
INDEPENDENCE DAY
By Sri Swami Satchidananda in The Golden Present (lightly edited by Yours Truly)
You all want to fly high. You want independence, liberty, happiness, and yet you struggle to follow through with the work it takes to get there.
On a day like this, take a moment to reaffirm your interest in your practices. Remember that nobody has ever achieved anything without practice. Selfless service is fine, but to do this service correctly, with the proper attitude, with proper physical energy, you have to tune up your body and mind.
That’s where the personal practices come in. Snatch a little bit of time somehow to wind your clock, and then throughout the day you can unwind. It seems to be the other way around. In your activities, you get wound up. You should be unwinding instead.
Make a new resolution that, “Yes, I am going to let my flag fly. Let it rise up my flagpole, through my practices.”
Keep the post straight by mindful movement. Pull the strings by proper breathing. Raise the flag of consciousness. You won’t have to do anything else. The result will be there.
On this beautiful day my sincere wish and prayer is that all of you will really put your effort into experiencing this joy of liberty.
Internally, you are always, always free. “Forgive yourself, but don’t give yourself away.”
P.S. The UK Tour (and subsequent vacation in Scotland with Paul and my parents) was a whirlwind and contained so many special moments! I will write more about it soon. But until then, here’s a review from the show in Manchester with James Holt. Thank you to everyone who supported these shows, from the venues to the musicians to the audiences and to the wonderful disability organizations who partnered with me! ❤️